Inaugural music festival Saturday at Bob Ruud will be jammin’

Rankin T, who has called Pahrump home for the past 25 years, is putting on a music festival Saturday at the Bob Ruud Community Center from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

He noted the community is home to many talented musicians, some of whom will also perform at what he calls the First Annual Music Festival.

“We will have six or seven bands performing on December 26th,” said Rankin T, who is originally from Portland, Jamaica. “Some of the bands are local but we also have some musicians from Los Angeles who will be here as well as Las Vegas. This performance will feature continuous music throughout the day. I plan on doing more of these music festivals because the musicians out here really want to play and perform. It is very wide open.”

Rankin T is well connected to the Southern Nevada music scene having performed while also hosting for the past 30 years his own radio program in Las Vegas.

As a member of the Nevada Association of Broadcasters, he was inducted into the association’s Hall of Fame in 2006.

Rankin T wants to introduce residents to what he refers to as the “Caribbean lifestyle and culture at the event.”

“We will also have a DJ as well as food,” he said. “We will have jerk chicken, plantains, fritters and introduce it to the people of Pahrump if they’ve never had the opportunity to eat this delicious food. Everything is blessed and it’s one love. Rastafari is a state of life and mankind. You live by the laws of God which are the laws man should live by.”

Rankin T also said curious attendees will hear a variety of genres and musical styles at the festival.

Also billed are, Jennifer and the June Bugs, the Greg Hill Band, Forty Keys and MC Phil Collins.

“There are lots of musicians here in Pahrump and they asked me to do something as far as getting more people interested in reggae music,” he said. “There was really no leader or direction and I spoke to quite a few of them who said they would like to perform.”

As a blooming musician in Jamaica decades ago, Rankin T has met and performed with the best known reggae artist of all time.

“I met Bob Marley many times,” he said. “In the sixties, recording studios were just coming to Jamaica. There was a studio called Studio One which is very famous. It is one of the biggest recording studios in Jamaica with all of the old guys including Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and the other big name artists.”

Over his career, Rankin said he’s produced numerous CD’s, where he performs regularly with his own set of musicians.

“I brought reggae music into Nevada back in 1981,” he said. “I have seven CDs that I’ve recorded, one of which is a live performance and I have a new one coming out right now. Nevada is embracing reggae music and you would be surprised to know how many people listen to my radio show in Las Vegas. Plus, when there’s a reggae show there, all the artists come through and they do very good.”

Rankin T is asking for a $6 donation for tomorrow’s music festival, to help pay for the cost of renting the venue.